Almighty House
by kkuzzz
Summary: An enraged man enacts revenge on House for killing his wife by taking two women he cares deeply for. House, Cuddy, and the rest of House's fellows must figure out who this man is and what exactly he wants from House.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Allison Cameron sighed as she finished filling out the last of her paperwork. Glancing up at the clock, she realized she had worked three hours past a double shift. Shaking her head, she filed the paperwork away and made her way towards the locker room. She was startled when she saw Thirteen standing at her locker in the dark.

"Thirteen you scared me! What are you still doing here?" she asked.

"House is a jackass," she replied bluntly.

"I really hope you're not just realizing this now," Cameron chuckled.

"Ha ha no. He just…ugh," she said throwing her arms in the air.

"I know, you don't have to try to convince me. I'm honestly not sure how I survived working with him for so long."

"I'm not sure how I'm going to do it either."

"You heading out now?" Cameron asked Thirteen as she began removing her scrubs.

"Yeah, finally."

"If you wanna hang on just a sec I'll walk out to the parking garage with you."

"Sure," Thirteen agreed, sitting down on one of the chairs.

After Cameron changed out of her scrubs and into some real clothes, she walked to the door and motioned for Thirteen to follow. On their way to the garage they chit-chatted, mostly about Doctor House and how obnoxiously arrogant he is. When they reached the level that they had both parked on they parted ways. Thirteen was about to say goodbye over her shoulder to the older doctor when she heard Cameron yell.

"What the hell!?" she heard causing her to race back to see what had happened.

Cameron stood behind her car, hands on her hips, and eyes gazing at her back tires. Upon closer inspection, Thirteen noticed that both tires had been slashed.

"Wow, who did you piss off?" she asked Cameron with a smirk.

"No one! I don't know who the hell could've done this!" Cameron answered frustrated.

"Hey, calm down okay? I'll just give you a ride home tonight and you can call someone to fix it tomorrow morning."

"Are you sure you don't mind? It's kinda far away."

"No problem, I've got no plans for tonight. C'mon," Thirteen turned towards her car and Cameron followed.

Cameron remained silent until they were on a deserted road heading away from the city.

"So Thirteen," she began, "why do you go by Thirteen and not your real name?"

"I guess because everyone already knows me as Thirteen and throwing my real name into the mix would probably just confuse people."

"I think it's because you're afraid to let people get to know you," Cameron tested.

"And I think you've worked with House for entirely too long."

"Remind me of your actual name again."

"Remy. Remy Hadley."

"Can I start calling you Remy?"

"I would prefer you stuck with Thirteen."

"Oh," Cameron replied quietly.

It was uncomfortably quiet for awhile as Thirteen drove further and further away from the city lights.

"I didn't know you lived so far out here," she said, breaking the silence.

"I don't, I'm house sitting for a friend for the week and she lives out here," Cameron explained.

"Oh I see."

"Yeah. Hey do you have any tissue? I think I feel a sneeze coming on." Before Thirteen could open her mouth to answer, Cameron pulled the glove compartment open and multiple prescription drug containers came tumbling out. "Wow that's a lot of medication."

"Foreman's got me on this crazy drug cocktail trial. He claims it will slow my degeneration," Thirteen explained.

"Degeneration? Oh right, from your Huntington's."

"Right. I don't believe him though."

"Why not?"

"It's kinda hard to be optimistic about a disease that you watched kill someone you loved."

"I can understand that."

Their conversation was cut off when a car appeared, seemingly out of nowhere behind them, and began honking, causing both women to jump.

"Damn, where'd he come from?" Cameron asked.

"I have no clue, but he's irritating me with that horn." Thirteen tapped the breaks twice, trying to signal for the car to pass if it wanted to go faster.

The car did in fact drive around them but instead of passing completely, it matched their speed right along-side them.

"What is he doing!?" Cameron asked, beginning to get scared.

"I don't – " Thirteen was cut off when the car slammed into the side of them, pushing their car towards the sharp incline to their immediate right.

Cameron screamed as Thirteen fought to maintain control of her vehicle. Just when she thought she had it, the mystery car hit them again, this time succeeding in pushing them off the road and down the incline. Glass shattered as the car rolled over again and again and again before coming to a rest, right side up, at the bottom of the hill. Cameron could see nothing but black and heard nothing except her own breathing. Her brain raced to realize what had just happened. Once she was able to gather her wits again she looked to her left and saw Thirteen slumped against the steering wheel.

"Thirteen? Hey Thirteen, you alright?" she asked shaking the unconscious doctor lightly. Pain began to register throughout her own body but she was determined to wake Thirteen. "C'mon, you gotta wake up. Don't do this to me!" she pleaded.

"Mmmm," Thirteen groaned, shifting slightly.

"That's it, you can do it."

"Cameron?" she asked lifting her head. "You okay?"

"I'm fine Thirteen. I mean, I hurt, but I'll be fine. What about you? Do you think you can get out?" Cameron asked trying to survey the damage in the almost pitch black.

"No, the seat must've slid forward during the role and I'm pinned to the steering wheel."

"I see. Well hang on, I'll get out and see if I can get your seat to push back."

Cameron struggled to unbuckle herself and climbed out of the smashed car. Glass bit into her flesh as she moved and when she put her weight on her right leg a blinding pain caused her to collapse into the grass. Thirteen, who had been watching her, called out to her with concern.

"Cameron? What happened?" she asked.

"I'm okay. There must be some glass in my leg," she replied appearing at Thirteen's side. She tried to examine the current position of the younger doctor but the dark made it almost impossible to see anything. "What hurts exactly?"

"Pretty much everything," Thirteen answered truthfully.

After fiddling around for a bit with the seat she finally found a way to wedge the seat back just enough to get Thirteen's body free from the car. But before she could do it, two large arms encircled her waist and pulled her away from the car. Naturally, she struggled to get away from her aggressor who was dragging her back up the hill they had just rolled down. As she fought she looked back down towards the car and saw another man going for Thirteen.

"Thirteen! Thirteen look out!" she warned and a rough hand came up to cover her mouth.

Cameron could do nothing but watch helplessly as the man roughly ripped Thirteen from the vehicle and began dragging her up the hill as well. Concern swept through Cameron when she noticed how limp Thirteen's body was and how little the usually feisty doctor was struggling. When she reached the road, Cameron's hands were bound behind her with a piece of zip-cord and she was crammed in the back of a Dodge Neon. She only had time to readjust herself slightly before Thirteen joined her in the same fashion. The stillness in the car was eerie until the two men climbed into the front seat and they began moving.

"You okay Thirteen?" Cameron asked quietly when she heard the woman's labored breathing.

"My head is pounding and I'm having a lot of trouble breathing," Thirteen replied trying to gasp for breath.

"Just hang on alright. We're gonna be okay. Hey," she yelled to the men, "what the hell is going on? Where are you taking us?"

"Shut the fuck up!" the passenger man yelled at her, shoving a gun in her face.

Afraid for not only her own life but also for the life of Thirteen, she complied and sat back against the seat. She looked across the seat at Thirteen. Her breathing had not gotten any better yet and she was passed out again. Cameron fought the urge to cry as she realized this could be the end of her life.


	2. Chapter 2

"Where the hell is Thirteen?" House asked, plopping down in a chair across from Taub and Kutner.

"Maybe she's sick," Kutner theorized.

"That's unacceptable," House replied bluntly.

"Why do you care so much? We're not on a case right now," Taub asked.

"I care because I'm her boss and when an employee doesn't show up for work on time the boss is supposed to get angry. Plus, I thoroughly enjoy making inappropriate jokes about her sexuality and Huntington's."

"At least you're aware that it's inappropriate," Cuddy commented as she walked into the room.

"Cuddy! It's great to see you today!" House exclaimed sarcastically.

"I need you two on clinic duty today," she said addressing Kutner and Taub and ignoring House.

"It's not even nine o'clock yet and you're already trying to steal my doctors?"

"Trying and succeeding," she pointed out as Taub and Kutner exited the room. "Cameron didn't show up for work today."

"Neither did Thirteen. Maybe they had wild lesbian sex last night and are too worn out to work today."

"You're a pig House," Cuddy said, turning to leave.

"It's just a theory," House yelled after her.

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Cameron awoke in a small unfamiliar room not even knowing when she had passed out. She blinked the haze out of her eyes and the memories of what happened came flooding back along with the pain. Her head quickly shot up in search of Thirteen.

"Hey, relax, I'm right here," she heard from beside her.

"Thirteen, where are you hurt?" Cameron asked sitting all the way up.

"It's my chest. I can't breathe very well still," she answered.

More concern crept into Cameron's head when she noticed that Thirteen's labored breathing had not yet calmed down or evened out. She pushed her own pain down and crawled across the two feet that separated her from Thirteen.

Lemme check it out," she said lifting the front of Thirteen's black t-shirt.

Greenish-yellow bruises wrapped around one half of her midsection. Cameron gasped quietly and reached out to examine the bruising. When her fingertips came into contact with the skin, Thirteen jumped and pulled away slightly.

"Hurts there," she admitted.

"Right here?" Cameron asked, prodding the area again.

"Yes," came the reply as Thirteen jumped again.

"You have broken ribs that are pressing up against one of your lungs. That's why you're having so much trouble breathing."

"Can't fix that without some kind of surgery," Thirteen acknowledged.

"Unfortunately," Cameron sighed.

"Well what about you? You gonna give me my chance to play doctor?" Thirteen asked, trying to brighten their bleak circumstance.

"It's just my leg, it looks like there's some larger pieces of glass embedded in it still."

"Let me see," Thirteen said, pushing off from the wall to get closer to Cameron's legs.

Just as she began analyzing Cameron's wounds, the door to the room came open and a man stepped in.

"Doctor Cameron, Doctor Hadley, so good to have you with us," he said brightly.

"Who are you and how do you know us?" Thirteen asked sharply.

"Oh I've been watching you for a long time now. You work with Doctor House."

"So? What does that have to do with anything?"

"You see, Doctor House killed my wife. I brought her in with stomach pains. He ran all these tests and told me he had the problem fixed. He promised me that she was just fine. Two weeks later she was dead. He _promised_ me that she was okay, that I had nothing to worry about. He took a person I cared about deeply so I took two people he cares about."

"That's where you're wrong pal," it was Cameron's turn to talk. "House doesn't care about anyone but himself. You tell him that you're going to kill us and he'll just shrug his shoulders, make another pot of coffee, and go on with his day. He really doesn't give a damn."

"Well that's the theory I hear quite often about House. So how about we test that theory?"

"If you're gonna toy with him you probably want to keep us alive," Thirteen said.

"Of course," the man replied.

"Then you need to bring us some supplies."

"What for?" the man asked loudly.

"We were kinda just in a car that rolled a few times and, you know, we may have sustained a few injuries as a result," Thirteen matched his volume despite the increasing pain in her chest.

"Fine, what do you need?"

"Towels, some water, and a pliers."

"I'll send someone in," the man said as he stomped out the door.

"You're gonna get yourself into trouble!" Cameron warned after the man was gone.

"Cameron look around. I hate to break it to you but we're already in trouble, I doubt I can make it much worse."

"Do you think House will just ignore this guy and leave our lives in his hands?" Cameron asked quietly, looking at the floor.

"I think between his crush on you and my disease he'll care enough to do something."

"Good. I'm not ready to die yet."

Before Thirteen could agree, the door was yanked open again. A few towels, two bottles of water, and a rusty pair of pliers were tossed in and the door was slammed shut. Grasping her ribs with one hand, Thirteen reached out and pulled the supplies closer with her other hand.

"Okay Cameron, give me your leg, I'll pull the glass out for you."

Cameron gently laid her leg in Thirteen's lap. Thirteen then proceeded to pull the sharp pieces out, one by one with the rusted pliers. When she was finished she used her teeth to tear the towels into strips and tie it around the bleeding slashes left by the glass.

Back at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, House was sitting in his office bouncing a ball off the wall when Cuddy came in.

"Any sign of Doctor Hadley yet?" she asked.

"Nope, Thirteen's still AWOL," he answered, continuing to throw his ball.

"Cameron hasn't called or shown up either."

"I'm telling you, wild lesbian sex."

"House I'm serious!" she said snatching his ball out of the air. "What if something happened to them?"

"Why don't you just call them if you're so worried?"

"I did and neither of them answered."

"Then I don't know what – " he was interrupted by his phone ringing obnoxiously with a Hanson ringtone. He picked it up and looked at the screen. "See? Thirteen's calling right now. Relax." He flipped open the phone and used the sternest voice he could muster. "Thirteen, where the hell are you?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but Doctor Hadley can't come to the phone right now. You can talk to me though."

"Who the hell is this? Where is Thirteen?" House demanded.

"She's a little tied up at the moment with Doctor Cameron. This is Michael."

"Michael? What do you want?"

"Well this is just your simple everyday act of vengeance inflicted upon a self-righteous, conceded man who calls himself a doctor."

"I'm not understanding what you're talking about here Michael. I don't even know who you are."

"I can't believe they call you a genius doctor! You don't remember me?"

"Should I?"

"I brought my wife in a year ago. She was complaining of persistent stomach pains and had developed a pretty high fever. I let you run your tests and test your theories. And then you said she was fine, that you had fixed whatever had been wrong. You promised that she was in perfect health. So I took her home. Exactly two weeks later I woke up next to her cold body. You lied to me Doctor House. She was** not** fine! She was still sick and now she's **dead**!

"You can't be blaming me for her death! I wouldn't have discharged her if she wasn't okay!" House argued.

"Then why is she dead?!" Michael shouted into the phone.

"I don't know. And if it was a year ago there's no way we will ever know. I'm sorry for your loss but you're doing this for nothing. Why don't you just let my doctors go?"

"Actually, I'm not doing this for nothing. I'm going to use your doctors to show you the pain that my wife was forced to feel and through them, you will feel the helplessness, the terror, and the tremendous pain that I felt."

"But they didn't do anything to you!"

"And my wife did nothing to you, but you still let her die! An eye for an eye Doctor House!"

"Listen Michael," House started calmly.

"No, you listen to me!" Michael interrupted. "I need to go chat with my lovely ladies for a bit. I'll be getting back in touch in an hour, via video chat. See you on the web House." With that the line went dead.

"House? What the hell is going on? Where are Allison and Remy?" Cuddy asked stepping forward with concern.

"Some maniac guy has them. He said he's going to make them suffer because I killed his wife. But I don't even remember him, much less his dead wife."

"Oh my God House, what are we gonna do?"

"I need Chase, Foreman, Kutner, and Taub in the diagnostics room now."

"You're going to tell them what's going on?!" Cuddy asked in disbelief.

"Why wouldn't I? Those girls mean a lot to all of us. Plus I'm going to need their help if we're gonna play like superheroes and save our doctors."

Cuddy nodded her agreement before turning and running out of House's office. It only took about five minutes for the doctors to assemble in the diagnostics room. Since Cuddy had told them nothing about what was happening with Cameron and Thirteen, the room was buzzing with theories on why House needed them so urgently. The room went silent when House limped in and stood next to his legendary white board.

"The reason I've called you all in here all of a sudden is that a madman has kidnapped Thirteen and Cameron," he paused for a moment, allowing the news to sink in.

"You can't be serious!" Chase said after momentary silence.

"Gentlemen, this is the most serious you will ever see me be. Now, these are the few things I know so far. The man that has them is named Michael. He's pissed at me because a year ago his wife died after being treated by me. The way he describes it, the death was not because of anything I did, but that's not what he believes. I also know that he plans on inflicting pain on Cameron and Thirteen in order to get even with me for causing his wife pain, which I didn't do."

"So why aren't we calling the cops?" Foreman asked.

"Because it's one of those 'if the cops are involved I'll kill them' scenarios. This Michael guy is going to call back in less than an hour and we need to be ready for it."

"How the hell can we be ready for anything a madman does?" Kutner asked leaning on the table.

"You can go search for his wife's file and bring it back here," he said pointing at Kutner with one of his dry erase markers.

"How can I find a file for a woman whose name we don't even know?"

"I don't know, you figure it out," House demanded, watching Kutner stalk out the door. "The rest of us are going to come up with potential problems that may arise due to Cameron and Thirteen's medical past. We'll start with Cameron," he wrote her name on the board.

"She has acute diabetes. It doesn't bother her very often though," Cuddy offered.

"She's also very prone to anxiety attacks which leave her exhausted," Chase added.

The marker squeaked as House wrote 'diabetes' and 'anxiety' below her name.

"What about Thirteen?" he asked, turning back to the doctors.

"Well, we know she has asthma but we don't know how severe it is," Taub pointed out. "And she has Huntington's."

"The Huntington's won't affect her in this situation," said House.

"No, but the drugs I gave her will," Foreman's voice was dripping with hesitation.

"Explain," House demanded.

"One of the drugs I gave her in her new Huntington's cocktail cannot be stopped suddenly. The patient has to be weaned off of it or it has very adverse effects," Foreman explained slowly.

"Effects like what?"

"Thinning of blood and very strong tremors are the most common."

"How strong?"

"Strong enough to practically disable someone for an amount of time."

"Do the affects just come and go as her body goes through the withdrawal?" House continued questioning.

"It depends on the patient. Some patients get over it fairly quickly but in some patients the effects caused their bodies to go into shock."

"Well let's just hope she's not one of _those_ patients," House said as he wrote the things under Thirteen's name.

**A/N: Let me know what you think. I already have quite a few chapters of this written and saved on my computer but I won't waste my time uploading them if people don't actually like the story. So if you like it, the only way to see more of it is to let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcomed.**


	3. Chapter 3

They continued to brainstorm, mostly to pass the time. Kutner returned a little later with absolutely no information and House paced quickly around the room until Cuddy made him sit down. About forty-five minutes later found House, Cuddy, Taub, Kutner, Foreman, and Chase sitting around the table in the diagnostics room. In front of House was Kutner's laptop.

"How exactly is this gonna work? We're not even connected to any chat program," Kutner asked.

"I don't know Kutner. Hopefully whatever is supposed to happen will just happen," House snapped.

No one dared say anything after that so they all sat in silence, eyes fixed on the computer screen. Suddenly the screen blinked to life and a man appeared in a video box.

"Dr. House, I see that you've got your team assembled. Too bad they're not going to be any help." The man moved out of the frame and scanned around the room. As he did, the team got a good look of the room Thirteen and Cameron were being held in. The walls looked like they had been a bright white at one time but now were greyed with dirt and grime. There was no actual floor either, only compacted dirt. The camera stopped its tour of the room when it landed on Cameron tied to a chair. "The ladies drew straws to see who got to go first and Dr. Cameron was the winner."

"What are you doing Michael?" House demanded.

"When I brought Susan in, the first thing you did was shoot her full of drugs that she didn't even need. They did everything to her except make her better." Michael walked back in front of the camera with a syringe in his hand. "This," he showed them the blue tinted liquid inside it, "is my own special concoction that I've perfected over the year to do specific damage."

"Don't you dare stick that shit in her," House threatened.

"Oh I'm not going to give it to her, Dr. Hadley is," he answered, chuckling maniacly.

"What?" they heard faintly.

"C'mon over here doctor."

"No, no way," she replied stubbornly.

Showing no patience, Michael pulled a gun from beneath his shirt and pointed it off camera at who everyone suspected to be Thirteen. "It was not a suggestion. Get over here now or I'll blow your damn head off!"

It was only seconds before Thirteen appeared on the screen. She looked a wreck. Instead of being neat and combed like usual, her hair hung in a loose, messy poinytail. There was a smear of blood on her chin and she kept one arm clutched tightly around her midsection.

"You, Dr. Hadley, are going to give Dr. Cameron her medicine," Michael said handing Thirteen the syringe.

"If you wanna kill me, then kill me, because I'm not gonna put this shit into Cameron's body."

"I understand you are willing to sacrifice yourself, but are you willing to let her die?" he asked suddenly turning the gun to Cameron.

Fear was written across Cameron's face but she said nothing. She just continued to stare up at Thirteen. Their eyes met momentarily and Thirteen understood what Cameron wanted her to do. But before she could agree to do it, Cuddy's voice boomed over the speakers.

"Don't make her do that! It's ridiculous to make them torture each other! I thought you were a man!? If you want it done why don't you grow a pair and do it yourself! Man up!" Cuddy yelled.

"You have absolutely no say in this Dr. Cuddy! Now," he said to Thirteen, "either you give her that injection or you'll be wearing her brain matter on your shirt. I'll count to three. One...two..."

"Okay I'll do it. Please just don't shoot," Thirteen pleaded in defeat. She took a step to Cameron and took her hand in her own. She then gave the crook of her arm a few pats to bring the veins to the surface and inserted the needle as gently as possible. She pushed the contents of the syringe into the older woman's body and handed the empty syringe back to Michael.

Cameron reacted almost instantly. She began to struggle and buck against the ropes that were binding her to the chair. Soon whimpers of pain began escaping her mouth. The whimpers quickly escalated into full blown screams tearing from Cameron's throat. Her breath came in short gasps as her eyes stayed clenched shut.

"Right now, the feeling of molten lava is coursing through her body. Her heart is beating painfully fast and her joints feel like they're exploding. This pain will continue for the next thirty minutes or so. When the pain stops the drug will continue working. After awhile, her adrenaline will spike and she will become uncontrollably aggressive," Michael explained over Cameron's shouts of pain.

"You bastard!" House yelled at the computer.

Before Michael could continue, the team watched as Thirteen lunged at him in anger. She managed to hit him once in the chest, once in the nose, and drag her fingernails across his cheek before he swung the butt of his gun, connecting it with her temple. The impact made Thirteen stumble a few steps backward and her hand came up to nurse the tender flesh where she felt blood begin to trickle down her face.

"Here's the deal," Michael said to the camera wiping blood off his cheek, "every time we talk I'll give you a new clue on how to find your precious doctors. Your clue for this lovely round is my name: Michael Samuels. The feeling of hopelessness that you all are feeling right now is the exact feeling I felt when my wife was dying. I hope you're enjoying it. See you in two hours," he said before the screen went black.

"I'm gonna go look for the wife's file," Kutner said excusing himself from the room.

"What else should we do House?" Taub asked quietly.

"I don't know Taub, I just don't know."

**Remember to tell me what you think. It only takes, like, a minute and a half to give a little feedback!**


	4. Chapter 4

Back in the cell, Michael had cut the ropes holding Cameron to the chair and left the two women alone. Thirteen sat against the wall holding the older doctor in her lap trying to comfort her. Cameron had calmed down substantially but still jerked in pain from time to time. When she heard a quiet sniffle come from Thirteen she tried to look up at the girl's face but found it still hurt to move too much.

"Thirteen?" she settled on just talking.

"Yeah Cameron?" she replied sniffing again.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she assured.

"You don't sound fine," Cameron challenged.

"It's just…I'm sorry Cameron. I didn't want to do it but he said he was going to kill you and I couldn't live with myself if…" Thirteen rambled on.

"I know, I know. Don't worry, I understand. It's not your fault, I promise."

"But you…"

"I'm okay now. Just relax."

"Okay."

"How's your head?" Cameron asked.

"Still hurts but it's not bleeding anymore, so that's good."

"That is good. Thanks for trying to defend me."

"That's what friends are for."

"So we're friends now?"

"Yeah of course," Thirteen laughed.

"Then can I call you Remy?" Cameron asked, finally turning her head to look up at Thirteen.

"Still no," she met Cameron's eyes.

"Fine," Cameron sighed. A comfortable silence filled the room as both women just took the time to relax a bit. "What do you think is going to happen next?" Cameron asked quietly.

"Probably something to do with me," Thirteen answered truthfully.

"I'm scared," Cameron admitted.

"It's all gonna be alright. Don't worry," Thirteen tried to keep her voice strong.

Cameron allowed herself to sink back into the younger doctor's grasp. The warmth of her body gave a somewhat comfortable feeling inside Cameron. Her eyes dropped down to Thirteen's hands and noticed that they were trembling slightly. She contemplated asking about it but decided to leave the matter alone. _'She'd tell me if there was something wrong'_ she thought.

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Once again, the doctors at Princeton Plainsboro sat around the diagnostics room feeling extremely helpless. House was pacing, Cuddy was gnawing her fingertips raw, and the others were stuck in a trance-like state, staring off into space. All eyes shot to the door when Kutner burst in.

"Okay, so I got some good information. First, here's Susan Samuels' file. I also have Michael's current home address," he said tossing the papers on the table. "Second, I searched the parking lot for Cameron's and Thirteen's cars but I only found Cameron's. The back tires were slashed. With a little research, I learned that the police found Thirteen's car early this morning in a ditch outside of town. The pictures that were taken at the scene looked as if the car had been forced off the road and rolled down a hill. They did find blood inside the car and I've already requested samples to be brought here so we can test it for DNA other than Cameron's or Thirteen's."

"Good work Kutner," House praised.

"So what can I do now?" he asked looking hopeful.

"There's nothing that can be done by any of us right now Dr. Kutner. Why don't you just sit down and rest for a little bit," Cuddy suggested.

Ignoring her, Kutner walked over to House's whiteboard and picked up a marker. "Kutner what are you doing?" House asked, obviously irritated.

"We observed them right? So we have new things we can add to our list. Starting with Cameron, what did we see?" he asked the group.

"We saw her in severe pain," Chase spat at him.

"That's the obvious thing," Kutner replied writing 'mystery injection' on the board. "What about the more subtle things?"

"She had some pieces of cloth wrapped around her leg, possibly to stem bleeding from an injury," Cuddy pointed out. She watched as Kutner wrote.

"And Michael talked about uncontrollable aggression in the near future," House added.

"Alright, so what about Thirteen?" Kutner asked his colleagues.

"Possible concussion from the knock to the head," Foreman jumped in.

"And she held her right side tightly, so it's possible she may have some fractured ribs. How long before the lack of meds starts to affect her?" House asked turning to Foreman.

He looked at his watch before answering. "If she took her meds last night she should be fine for a few more hours still but if she missed her evening dose the affects should already be hitting her."

"She missed her evening dose," House said quietly.

"How do you –?"

"Because I forced her to skip it. I told her she couldn't leave the lab until she finished the stains she was working on. She tried to argue that she needed her meds but I told her no," he admitted before taking the marker from Kutner and writing 'medication withdrawl' underneath all of the other things already listed. He raked his hand through his hair as he just stood staring at the board.

"We'll find them House. They'll be alright," Cuddy tried to comfort him.

ΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞΞ

"So…what's your favorite color?" Cameron asked. The pain from the drug had finally worn off and she was sitting next to Thirteen in their cell propped up against the grungy wall.

"Blue. What's yours?"

"Green. What's your favorite food?"

"Pasta. Yours?"

They had been asking questions back and forth for some time now. Well, Cameron had been asking questions and Thirteen had been cooperative and answered them. Nothing in depth, just regular 'get to know you' kind of questions. It was the only thing they could think to do in attempt to not think about their impending doom.

"Hamburgers," Cameron answered, feeling her stomach growl. "How about why you became a doctor?"

"Next question."

"Why? Why won't you answer that?" Cameron demanded to know.

"Because I don't have an answer to give."

"There must be some reason you became a doctor. People don't just up and say 'hey I think I'll go enroll in med school tomorrow."

"You should just drop it Cameron," Thirteen answered calmly.

"No! Why do you insist in being so mysterious?! Why can't you just answer the simplest of questions?"

"The reason is moot now!" Thirteen yelled back.

"What do you mean?" Cameron asked, dropping her voice back to speaking level.

"When Huntington's deteriorated my mom so much that it made me hate her I decided that I would become a doctor so that terrible disease wouldn't kill me too. I thought that if I became a doctor I would be safe from the disease. When I got old enough to understand that just being a doctor wouldn't make me immune to disease and illness, I turned to God. I thought that maybe if I was selfless and saved enough lives, that God would spare mine. That maybe he would keep me safe from the Huntington's. Guess I was wrong though," she finished, looking down at her trembling hands.

Cameron let her words sink in a bit before speaking again. "Are you okay?" she asked, mostly referring to the woman's shaking hands.

"Yeah I'm fine," she answered tucking one hand in her pocket and wrapping the other back around her ribs.

"You can talk to me you know. We're friends now."

"I know. I don't need to talk right now though."

"Well when you do just remember I'm right here."

Sounds outside their cell made both their heads shoot up. The door burst open and Michael strode in followed by a guy who Cameron recognized as one of the men who had run them off the road the previous night. The man carried a car battery and some wires. Thirteen's mind spun with images of what that battery was going to be used for.

"Gimme your shoes," Michael said reaching his hands out to Cameron. She complied quickly untying her shoes and handing them over. "Hers too," he said gesturing to Thirteen. She crawled over and pulled her shoes off her feet and handed them to Michael.

"Why do you want our shoes?" Cameron asked him.

"It's harder to run away if you don't have any shoes on. After seeing how rebellious that one can be, I've decided to take a few minor precautions. Now, Dr. Hadley, get in the chair," he commanded pointing his gun at her again. As she slowly got up off the floor Michael noticed the slight tremors shaking her hands. "What's wrong with your hands?" he asked.

"None of your damn business," she snapped.

"Fine, whatever. Get her ready Ralph."

The man now known to Cameron and Thirteen as Ralph slammed Thirteen down and she gasped in pain when the action jarred her sore ribs. He used rope to tightly bind her to the chair just as Cameron was before, wrapping it around her wrists and around her ankles. After that was done he rolled the hem of her shirt up a few inches exposing the bruised skin of her abdomen. Using more rope he tied her shirt so it would stay where he rolled it to. Smiling at her, he then grabbed the wires he had brought in with him. The wires had metal clamps on the ends that he used to attach the wires to Thirteen's body. She jumped when he dug the clamps into the already tender skin. Blood immediately began to surround the clamps and dribble down her belly. When he was done he took a few steps back to admire his work.

"Good job Ralph. Now bring my camera and monitor in here so we can get started. It's just about that time," Michael snickered, rubbing his hands together.


	5. Chapter 5

They all watched the clock as the second hand clicked over the twelve and two hours had passed exactly. To their amazement, the screen blinked to life again and Michael's face filled the screen.

"Hello ladies and gents, how are you feeling? Pretty shitty I'm willing to bet. Don't worry though, you're about to feel a whole lot worse." He moved out a frame to reveal Thirteen strapped to the chair in the middle of the dank room. "Welcome to round number two of Michael Samuels' Revenge-O-Rama! I'd like you to meet our newest contestant, Dr. Remy Hadley," he said in a very game showy voice.

"Now what Michael?" House asked through gritted teeth.

"Well, after giving Susan all of that unnecessary medication, her heart quit beating and you had to shock her. It took nine shocks to get it back going. You told me she couldn't feel it but when she regained consciousness she told me that it was the most painful thing she had ever felt. I guess you couldn't stop the lies from tumbling out of your mouth. To recreate the horrific event, Dr. Cameron will be shocking Dr. Hadley with a 12 volt car battery nine times. Each shock will last for five seconds and they will be on the bare flesh of her stomach. Any questions?"

"Have you actually thought this through Michael?" House asked.

"Of course I have Dr. House. Trust me, I've got a great plan. Now I think we should get started." He turned to Cameron. "All you do is touch the wires to the top of the battery and the shock will start. Count five steamboats and then release."

"What if I don't? What if I refuse to do this?" Cameron challenged.

"Then I'll kill her, and then kill you," Michael answered cocking his gun to demonstrate his level of seriousness.

"Fine," she said bringing the wires closer to the battery. She looked up at Thirteen's eyes. Her face showed bravery and strength which in turn made Cameron feel braver. "I'm sorry Thirteen," she apologized before touching both wires to the metal of the battery.

Thirteen's body stiffened and suddenly five seconds seemed like an eternity to both women. When Cameron finally removed the wires, Thirteen slumped forward slightly and her breath came in quick gasps. Beads of sweat had already begun forming on her forehead.

"Again," Michael demanded.

Cameron hesitantly touched the battery again and just like before Thirteen's body went rigid. This time her face contorted in pain and she struggled slightly against the ropes. By the fourth shock Thirteen was screaming in pain and the smell of burnt flesh had filled the room. With each new jolt her body rose against the ropes and she fought to breath through the excruciating five seconds. House and the other doctors in the room felt helpless, being able to do nothing but watch their friend and colleague get tortured. On the sixth shock Thirteen passed out and blood flowed freely from her nose.

"We have to stop," Cameron said.

"I didn't say stop. She gets nine shocks just like Susan got. Do it again!" Michael yelled.

"If we keep shocking her like this she could die! The blood coming from her nose indicates some kind of internal trauma," Cameron tried to argue.

"Do it again or she dies!" Michael threatened.

With Thirteen unconscious nothing stopped her body from flailing about as Cameron gave her another shock. The last three shocks tore Cameron apart as she watched the damage she was inflicting on her friend. After the last shock she immediately ran over to Thirteen, unhooked the wires from her abdomen, and pulled the ropes off of her. She lifted the limp unconscious girl out of the chair and laid her on the floor. Checking her pulse, she found that it was weak and thready and her breathing was extremely labored.

"I need some cool water and a few towels!" Cameron shouted, not taking her eyes off Thirteen.

Ralph looked to Michael for approval. Michael nodded and Ralph darted out the door. Michael smirked at Thirteen's still form and then turned back to the camera.

"So now you know how it feels to watch someone shock the shit outta somebody you care about. Sucks doesn't it?"

"We were trying to save her life!" House yelled.

"I don't give a damn what you were trying to do! I saw what I saw and I felt exactly how you feel right now," Michael shouted right back. "I better get going and let everything sink in a bit. I'm not sure when our next visit will be so just be ready. I gotta give you your next clue before I let you go though."

"Wait Michael, instead of giving us a clue, how about you let us talk to Cameron for five minutes?" House suggested. He watched as the thought went through Michael's head. "C'mon, I'm sure we let you talk to your wife for awhile right?"

"That's true. Okay fine, you get five minutes before I disconnect you. The time starts now," Michael said as he left the room.

"Cameron?" House asked. "Can you see us?"

"Yeah, he's got a little TV in here that I can see you on," she answered.

"You have to quickly tell us everything you can," Cuddy cut in. "First, do you know where you are?"

"No, we were a ways out of the city when they ran us off the road."

"Are there any windows where you are?" Kutner asked from somewhere off screen.

"There's one but it's up pretty high. Hang on I'll see if I can see out of it."

They watched her walk away and waited patiently as she tried to position herself to see outside. House noted how she favored her left leg. When she came back they looked on in anticipation.

"It looks like there's just woods outside. I can't see a road or any other buildings, just the woods and a car," she told them.

"What kind of car is it?" Kutner asked.

"It's a dark green jeep looking car. It's not the same one that ran us off the road though."

"Ok Cameron, how are you? Are you hurt?" House asked full of concern.

"My leg is pretty torn up from the car crash but other than that I feel pretty fine," she told them honestly.

"How about Thirteen?"

"She's worse than me, especially after all that. She's got a pretty good gash in her head and her abdomen is really bruised up from the crash. She said she was having a hard time breathing earlier so I think some of her ribs are broken and are pressing up against one of her lungs."

"Lemme see," House commanded.

Cameron grabbed the camera and positioned it closer to Thirteen. Then she knelt down and pulled Thirteen's shirt up just enough to show the bruising. Now, added to the bruises, there were ugly tears in her skin where the clamps from the wires had been and red blistering burns forming around them.

"That looks bad. Have you noticed any shaking?" Foreman asked moving closer to the camera.

"Her hands were trembling a bit earlier."

"She needs to get her meds, do you know if she possibly has them with her?"

"No, I saw them in her glove compartment," she replied sadly.

Before anyone could explain to Cameron why Thirteen had been trembling, she began to stir. Moaning softly she stretched her back a little and cracked her eyes open.

"Thirteen? How do you feel?" House asked.

"Mmmm…like shit," she gave back an honest reply.

"Quickly, we don't have much time left, I need you to tell me exactly what feels wrong," House commanded sternly.

"My head is pounding so hard it's making it difficult for me to think. My fingertips are cold and numb. My right side feels like it's split open and I'm having a really hard time breathing. I can't take a deep breath. I've also developed a sour taste in the back of my throat. And tell Foreman that my hands have started shaking and it's getting worse as time passes by."

"Ok, Cameron, you should elevate her legs to move some blood into her upper body, it sounds like her blood is already starting to thin which is why her fingertips feel numb. Also, keep a very close eye on those tremors. As a side effect of the withdrawal from her drugs the tremors will get progressively worse," House explained.

"How much worse?" she asked quietly.

"Enough to incapacitate her."

"Oh God," Cameron gasped.

"Don't worry Cameron, we're gonna find you and bring you home. Don't let that moron intimidate you," House assured before the screen went black.

**I'm sorry it's taking so long to update, school has been wearing me down lately. But never fear, I'll stick with this story til the very end! Thanks for all the great reviews, keep 'em coming! If there's something you might want to see in upcoming chapters feel free to lemme know too.**


	6. Chapter 6

After the screen went black the door to their room opened and two towels were tossed in followed by a bucket of water being set just inside the door. Cameron walked over and retrieved the items before returning to Thirteen's side. She took the first towel, dipped it in the bucket, and started to wipe the blood from Thirteen's face. When it was all cleaned off she got the towel wet again and laid it across Thirteen's bare stomach.

"How you doing Thirteen?" she asked brushing a few strands of hair from her face.

"I'm dizzy and I hurt," Thirteen replied quietly.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna get you all fixed up."

Suddenly, Thirteen's hand shot up and gripped Cameron's arm like a vice. Before Cameron could ask what was wrong Thirteen's eyes rolled up into her head and her body began seizing. With her mind now frantic, Cameron quickly turned Thirteen on to her side and held her head firmly. The seizure felt like it went on forever. When her body was still, Cameron let Thirteen's head lay gently against the floor. She then tried to bring the unconscious girl back around.

"Thirteen? Thirteen wake up," she tried shaking her shoulder. Nothing. "Remy, you have to open your eyes and talk to me. C'mon open your eyes Remy." Cameron pulled one of her eyelids open and was met by Thirteen's blank glossy eye. Michael, who had heard Cameron's pleas from the hallway, barged in.

"What's going on?" he asked looking from Cameron to Thirteen's limp body.

"She had a seizure. I need you to get some anticonvulsants for her. If she has another seizure like that in the state she's in it could fry her brain or even kill her," Cameron explained desperately.

"I'll see what I can do. No promises though," he said, slamming the door behind him.

Just after Michael left the room, Thirteen began to stir. When it registered in her brain that she was lying on the floor she immediately tried to sit up. However, a light pressure on her chest made this action impossible. Reaching up, she found that the pressure was being created by a human hand. Panicked, she tried to shove the hand away from her body but it would not move. This spiked her panic even more. She opened her mouth to yell but no sound would be produced. Her arms flailed as she fought to open her heavy unresponsive eyelids. She lessened her movements when her ears picked up a voice aimed at her. She stopped struggling all together when she recognized the voice to be Cameron's.

"Cameron?" she croaked out finally finding the ability to speak.

"Yeah Thirteen it's me. Can you open your eyes?" Cameron waited a few moments while Thirteen's eyes slowly peeled open. "Do you know what happened?"

She thought for a second and shook her head slowly. "No," she replied quietly.

"The stress from the electrical shocks triggered a seizure," Cameron explained.

"Duration?"

"About two minutes."

"Duration of unconsciousness?" Thirteen kept cranking out questions.

"About three minutes. How do you feel Remy?" Thirteen furrowed her eyebrows at the use of her real first name. "Sorry, how do you feel _Thirteen_?" Cameron corrected herself.

"The pain in my side has intensified and my breathing is becoming more ragged. I have no feeling in my fingertips, my vision is blurred around the edges, my ears are ringing, and I still have a sour taste in the back of my throat."

"Early signs of shock. Do you feel any nausea?" Cameron asked quickly. Thirteen answered with a slight shake of her head. "That's a good sign. You think you can sit up?" This time Thirteen nodded her head a few times. "Alright, let's get you up then." She wrapped her arms underneath Thirteen's armpits and slowly hoisted her into a sitting position. She then carefully drug her backwards so that she was resting against the wall. "Better?"

"Yeah, thanks Cameron," she answered sucking in a shaky breath.

Cameron lowered herself to the ground next to Thirteen. When she looked over to the girl she saw that her eyes were closed and her hands were trembling in her lap.

"So," Cameron began, "how's the trial going?"

Thirteen lifted her eyelids and turned to Cameron. "It's going okay," she answered reluctantly.

"Have you seen any progress yet?"

"No, my CAG numbers keep dropping." There was a strong silence before Thirteen spoke again. "How about we discuss something different? What's your favorite childhood memory?"

"Whoa, Thirteen wants to talk about the past? Somebody pinch me!" Cameron laughed.

"Shut up and answer the question," Thirteen chuckled back.

"Let's see. My favorite childhood memory would have to be from when I was twelve. My dad signed me up for this stupid soccer team, even though I knew absolutely nothing about the damn sport. Well there was this girl on my team, Sarah Martin, and she was the big star. Not only was she the best and cockiest player, she was the girl all the boys were after. For our last game of the season we played our rivals, the Mighty Mighty Stingrays. My coach, being the moron that he was, put me on the field with only like five minutes left to go and a score that was all tied up. I basically just stood there and looked awkward the whole time. But then, all of a sudden the ball was rolling at me almost perfectly. I looked up at the clock and saw that there was only ten seconds left. So I wound up, shut my eyes, and blasted that ball at the goal," Cameron smiled remembering the moment.

"You scored the winning goal of your most important game?" Thirteen asked smiling back.

"No. As it turns out, Sarah didn't trust me enough to shoot the ball on my own so she was running up to take the ball just as my foot connected with it. Man, that ball creamed her face so hard! It was priceless watching her stumble to the ground. The best part about the whole thing was that her big face blocked what would have been the game winning goal so no one on the team would talk to her for like two weeks after the game."

"Oh wow, you really put her in her place huh."

"It made me feel proud at least. How about you? What's your favorite childhood memory?" Cameron asked, still smiling.

"My fourth birthday. I know you probably think four is too young to actually remember things, but I remember it like it was yesterday. It was my last birthday with my mom before she started to get sick. She baked me a cake with pink frosting and she made me this great pop-up birthday card that said 'happy birthday Remy' in big sparkly letters on the front and had a cool pop-up cake and party hat on the inside. I still have that card. I kept I all these years because it was the happiest time of my life."

"It must have been really hard to lose your mom so young," Cameron commented quietly.

"It was hard, but I moved on, at least I thought I did. It's this damn disease," her voice rose unexpectedly as she raised her trembling hands. "It's like every time I look in the mirror, all I can see is her. My final days with her were spent with her cussing and yelling at me for no reason. I couldn't wait for her to be gone, for all the yelling to just stop. I wish now that I had been able to understand that it wasn't her fault. I wish I would've spent more time with her. I just didn't understand," Thirteen said quietly.

Instead of trying to think of something comforting to say, Cameron just wrapped her arm around Thirteen's shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze. In return, Thirteen laid her head on Cameron's arm and let her eyes fall shut again.


	7. Chapter 7

The silence was almost painful as the six doctors sat and watched the seconds pass by unreasonably slow. With each tick of the hand House became increasingly restless. No one knew what to do. No one knew what to say. Suddenly, Foreman hopped to his feet and snatched the whiteboard marker off the table.

"What do we know about this Michael guy?" he addressed his co-workers.

"We know he's crazy," House muttered.

"We know where he lives," Kutner stated.

"Right. You and Taub go check out his place. Look for anything that could lead to answers or Thirteen and Cameron's whereabouts," Foreman instructed.

"We also know Thirteen's car was run off the road late last night, presumably by him," Chase pointed out.

"Good. You go check the police reports. See if you can find any leads."

"How am I supposed –"

"You care about Cameron right? You'll figure it out," Foreman practically yelled at him.

House, Cuddy and Foreman watched Chase pull open his cell phone as he jogged out of the room. Foreman then dropped the whiteboard marker and plopped back down in a chair, covering his face with his hands.

"So," House said, dumping a few pills into his hand and swallowing them down, "what are you gonna do Mr. Sergeant-In-Charge?"

"Nothing," Foreman answered, sounding defeated.

"But you were so quick to throw orders in their faces. Why not have any work for yourself?"

"Because I'm trying to spare them," Foreman answered quietly. "No one should have to sit and watch as their co-workers and friends get tortured right in front of them. I don't want them to have to see that and go through the guilt later of not doing anything to stop it."

"There's nothing they _can_ do to stop it at this point," House pointed out.

"But I'm making them believe there is though. If they feel like they've done something to help, they won't feel so bad when…" Foreman trailed off quietly.

"Don't even go there Foreman! We're going to find them!" Cuddy shrieked at him.

Just like earlier, the argument was interrupted as the computer screen whirred back to life. The screen was filled with Michael's smiling face.

"Aww, what happened to your other fellows House? Did they realize what an insensitive asshole you are and ditch you?" Michael mocked. He allowed the camera to zoom in on the two women leaning against the wall together.

"What ridiculous thing do you have planned now Michael?" House challenged.

"It's so nice of you to ask!" Michael exclaimed sarcastically. "Well, Susan's heart was okay you thought she was in the clear, but then she got this fever. The fever kept climbing and climbing until it was up in the fatal range. One of your fellows was able to bring it down but she suffered through it for hours before that happened. So to recreate that lovely experience, I'm going to crank the heat in this room to an almost unbearable temperature. I've read that the human body can survive in temperatures up to 135°F. How bout I raise the heat to about 125°F? That would raise our wonderful doctors' body temps to around 108°F. As you all know this will induce delirium, convulsions, vomiting, breathlessness, and increased heart rate. Doesn't sound very comfortable does it? The best part is, I'm gonna let you all watch and listen in!" Michael smiled again.

"How long are you going to keep it like that for them?" Cuddy asked.

"I haven't decided yet. We'll just see how it goes. I'll be back in about a half an hour to give you your second clue." With that, he left, slamming the door behind him.

"Where is everyone House?" Cameron asked.

"Taub and Kutner went to Michael's home to dig up some info and Chase is seeing if the police have any new leads. How are you two doing? Has he already turned the heat up?" he asked noticing the sweat that had already covered her face.

"I'm fine House. I mean we're both pretty dehydrated but I'm fine for the most part. Whatever drug he gave me wore off awhile ago. Thirteen's in rough shape though," she motioned to the younger doctor. The girl's tremors had spread up to her shoulders and it looked like she was using all of the energy she had to keep her body still. Her eyes were closed and her breath came in quick gasps. "She's getting worse. She had a seizure earlier," Cameron spoke quietly.

"I can still hear you Cameron. You don't have to try to keep things a secret, I know how bad I am." Thirteen's eyes were open and she was looking directly at Cameron.

"How's your blood sugar Cameron? Any dizziness or nausea?" Foreman asked, drawing the attention away from Thirteen, for which she was grateful.

"No, it's okay right now. But I haven't had anything to eat or drink in awhile so I can't promise how long it'll stay okay." She was quiet for a moment and they watched her check Thirteen's pulse. "I don't know how long she can keep lasting," Cameron whispered. "It's already really hot in here and I'm sure Michael isn't done cranking it up yet."

As if on cue, the room began spinning before Thirteen's eyes. She clenched them shut and then opened them wide a few times in an attempt to control the sudden dizziness she was feeling. The tremors wracking her body weren't helping the situation either. Instead of trying to stop the whirling, she concentrated on her breathing, which she found had gotten worse since her seizure. Feeling defeated, she let the fatigue coursing through her to take over.

"Thirteen, you okay?" House asked when he saw her head flop forward.

"Yeah I'm just feeling a little heavy headed is all. It'll pass," she reassured him quietly.

"Cameron help her lay down. Her thinning blood caused by her withdrawal is making her head dead weight on her shoulders," House instructed.

"Why's everything always about her!?" Cameron suddenly snapped.

"Whoa Cameron, calm down," Cuddy said softly.

"Don't tell me to calm down! I want an answer! Why the hell is everything always about her!? What about me!?" she asked, standing up and raising her voice as she got closer to the camera. "I'm a better doctor than she is, I care more about my patients than she does, I don't have a drug problem like her, and I definitely don't sleep around like that little slut!" she yelled.

"Cameron –" House began but was cut off by the outraged doctor.

"You don't get to talk **Greg**. You want me to help her lay down? Here," she grabbed a fist full of Thirteen's dark hair, lifted her slightly, and threw her to the ground causing Thirteen to gasp in pain.

"Cameron stop. You need to just relax," House commanded.

"I don't need to do anything you say. Do you like her more because she's prettier than me?" she asked. "I can change that," she said as she began a ruthless attack on Thirteen's face and body.

The doctors watched in horror as Cameron pounded on Thirteen relentlessly. Her foot slammed into the other girl's face and stomach over and over again. Breathing deeply, Cameron stopped and grabbed Thirteen's shoulders, pulling the younger doctor to her feet. She then spun around and slammed her into the stone wall. Thirteen cried out as her head collided with the wall in a dull thud. Cameron pulled her back and repeated the action with a little more force and threw her back to the floor, delivering another powerful kick.

"You think you're better than me?" she asked driving yet another foot into Thirteen's temple and spitting saliva at her body. Dropping to her knees, she wrapped her hands tightly around Thirteen's neck and squeezed with all of her might. Cameron laughed as the taller doctor gasped and clawed at her hands. Just as Thirteen's body started to go limp, Cameron let go and stood back up. She placed one foot on top of Thirteen's chest and pushed down. "You'll never be better than me," she whispered.

Suddenly, Cameron began to sway on her feet. She stumbled backwards a few steps and leaned against the wall for support. With one last burst of energy, she slammed a punch into the wall and dropped to her knees, leaning on her hands and letting her head hang low.

"Cameron! What the hell is going on?" House asked desperately. She didn't answer right away. Instead, she just sat on her knees and took deep breaths.

"House? What just happened? Why am I breathing so hard?" she asked wiping sweat from her face and looking at the camera quizzically.

"You just went crazy and attacked Thirteen," Cuddy explained.

"No, I couldn't…" she said looking over to the motionless doctor. "Oh God."

She quickly crawled over to where Thirteen lay unmoving. She put two shaky fingers to the girl's neck and was relieved when she felt the dull thump of her heart. She then leaned over the woman's face. Her eyes suddenly widened in panic. She went into automatic doctor mode as she tilted Thirteen's head back, pressed their mouths together, and blew two deep breaths into her unconscious body.

"Cameron?" Cuddy questioned.

"She's not breathing. I think her lung has collapsed," Cameron answered before blowing two more full breaths into Thirteen.

"You need to find a way to re-inflate it," House commanded the panicked doctor.

After giving Thirteen two more breaths Cameron instantly jumped up and began pounding on the door. When her right hand made contact she shrieked out in pain. Upon further inspection she saw her fist, bloody and mangled. Knowing Thirteen needed help, she pushed the pain aside and continued pounding. After about 20 seconds of this, Michael burst through the door, shoving Cameron to the ground.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" he yelled outraged.

"Please, I need a syringe. I know you have one. Please I need to use it! She's gonna die if I don't!" she pleaded, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Hesitating for a moment, Michael threw the door shut and ran off down the hall. Cameron continued to push air into Thirteen's broken body, praying every second for her to just wake up and be alright. Michael soon flew back into the room with a syringe in hand. He slid to a stop on the opposite side of Thirteen and handed the syringe to Cameron. As soon as it was in her hand she stopped her rescue breathing and began feeling around Thirteen's chest. House and the others held their breath as Cameron's hand found the specific place she was looking for. In lightning fast speed she used her teeth to yank the plunger out of the syringe. She then let out a shaky breath before jamming the syringe into Thirteen's chest. After a few agonizing seconds, Thirteen's chest rose and fell slowly.

"How'd you do that?" Michael asked incredulously.

"Her broken ribs pushed against her lung causing it to collapse. The syringe," she motioned to the medical instrument still stuck in Thirteen's body, "helped push air back into the lung, allowing it to work on its own. But it's only a temporary fix. She needs real medical attention soon," she explained, wiping tear off her cheeks.

"Why did you help her Michael?" House questioned. "You could've just let her die and been done with it. So why save her life?"

"Cause I'm not done with her yet," Michael simply replied before standing up and leaving.

"How is she?" Cuddy asked after the door had slammed shut.

"She's breathing on her own again but it's shallow and she's still unconscious. I can't believe this is all my fault."

"It's not your fault, it was the drug he gave you before," Foreman rationalized.

"Doesn't matter. It was my hands that did this to her. She's like this because of me," She swept Thirteen's hair out of her face and saw the yellow bruise beginning to form around one of her eyes and the read hand marks around her neck. The sight made her start crying all over again.

"Yes, she is like this because of you, but you need to pull yourself together if you expect either of you to get out of there alive," House stated sternly. "Now quit crying over spilt milk because what's done is done. Your job now is to clean up the mess."

Knowing that what House was saying was right, she couldn't very well rewind time, she wiped her tears away for a second time and removed the green sweater she was wearing. The action inched the pain in her hand back to life. She ripped off a strip from the bottom of the sweater and wrapped it tightly around her hand, wincing as she did so.

She then ripped off another strip and drug the bucket of water over. Looking inside, she saw that the water was already tainted with blood. Ignoring the bile rising in her stomach, she dipped the fabric into the water and wrung it out. She started on Thirteen's face, wiping the blood away from her nose and from her split lip. Then she moved lower, lifting the girl's black t-shirt and seeing the trauma she had caused to the already torn up skin. The gashes from earlier were all ripped back open and bleeding freely. She slowly wiped the blood away and began silently praying.

_"Please God, let her be okay. I never meant to…and if she dies…I…I could never forgive myself. She doesn't deserve this. She's such a good doctor."_

When she finished cleaning her stomach Cameron gently pulled down Thirteen's shirt and rocked back on her legs. She rolled up the rest of her green sweater and placed it underneath Thirteen's head.

"Now what?" she asked the doctors on the other side of the camera.

"Now we just wait," House said.

After about five minutes of silence, Cameron was once again sitting against the wall with Thirteen's head resting in her lap. Suddenly, her head snapped to look at the screen when she heard Kutner's voice as he burst through the door of the diagnostics room followed closely by Taub.

"We found some stuff," Kutner said, dropping an armload of papers on the table.

Taub pulled a blue folder out of the pile and opened it up. He took out a few papers and laid them out in a line for the others to see.

"This guy is up to his eyebrows in medical bills. He's in debt at least ten grand if not more. He was bound to crack eventually," Taub said, leaning on the back of one of the chairs.

"As we've seen before, broke – pissed off guys take hospitals hostage, not just two specific doctors and not with the intent to only torture them," house pointed out. "Yes he's insane, but he's doing this for pure vengeance.

Taub swept the papers up and crammed them back into the folder.

"Michael lives with his brother, Ralph. He owns a green Chrysler Jeep and Ralph is leasing a red Dodge Intrepid. Their father, Patrick, died about five months ago," Kutner reported.

"So what did daddy leave for his boys?" House asked.

"Chase is getting the inheritance records right now. He gave us the info he got from the police."

"Thirteen's car was run off the road obviously sometime last night. There was red paint scraped along the driver's side door as well as around the rear driver's side panel. Most of the windows on the vehicle were smashed during its roll and there was blood found on both the passenger's seat and the driver's seat. The police have absolutely no leads right now," Kutner rattled off everything Chase had told him.

"So we're basically at a stand still yet again," Cuddy concluded.

"But good information guys. Good work," Foreman added.

They nodded in acknowledgement and plopped down in chairs.

"How are they doing?" Kutner asked looking at the computer screen.

"He turned the heat up to an ungodly degree just to make them suffer," House sighed. "And the drug he gave Cameron before kicked in and she went berserk on Thirteen. Beat her up pretty good."

"Is Thirteen okay?" Kutner asked with concern.

"She's still unconscious so we don't really know the true extent of the damage yet," Cuddy answered.

"I see," Kutner responded leaning back in his chair slightly.

Everyone kept their thoughts to themselves as they silently watched the computer screen. Thirteen remained unconscious in Cameron's lap and Cameron had her head laid back against the wall. House had no idea how long he sat there, just staring at the unchanging scene. He finally tore his eyes away when he heard Cuddy's stomach growl quite audibly from beside him. He glanced around the table at the other doctors and noticed how dreary and exhausted they looked. Yeah, watching two of your good friends and co-workers get tortured relentlessly really took it out of you.

"You know, there's really not much going on right now, so why don't you all go down to the cafeteria and grab some food," he addressed them, breaking the silence. Everyone just sat staring at him blankly. "Seriously, go. I'll stay here and page you guys if anything changes."

They looked around at one another before standing slowly from their chairs and filing out the door. After they had all gone, House resumed his empty stare at the computer screen.

Back in the room, things were as calm and quiet as they could possibly get.

"Cameron?" Thirteen said quietly coming out of her unconscious state and startling Cameron.

"Yeah Thirteen?"

"It's hot," she stated.

"I know. How are you feeling?"

"I hurt. Everything hurts. Breathing's a little easier now though." She reached up slowly and her hand came into contact with the syringe jutting out of her chest. "Oh, desperate times call for desperate measures huh?" she asked dropping her hand back to her side.

"Yeah, you stopped breathing there for a little bit," Cameron replied, absent mindedly running her hand through Thirteen's dark hair. "You're gonna be okay Thirteen. Don't worry, I'm not gonna let anything else happen to you, I promise."

"You can't promise that," Thirteen whispered.

Cameron clenched her eyes shut for the umpteenth time in a futile attempt to stop any more tears from escaping her already dry eyes. Her mind flashed back to her assault on Thirteen and she felt bile rising in her stomach. She quickly but gently lifted Thirteen's head off of her lap and laid it on the ground. In three long strides she was in the corner, wretching warm stomach acid onto the floor. She stayed there, knees bent and heaving for a good two minutes before standing up straight and wiping her mouth to cross back across the room, a sudden wave of dizziness struck Cameron and she lost her footing, pitching forward and landing on her face. Unable to rise back to her feet, she crawled the rest of the way to Thirteen and laid down beside her.

"Cameron what's the matter? Do you have the flu?" Thirteen asked sounding concerned.

"No, I'm just catching a little heat stroke."

"Why don't we move out of the sun then. I told you the beach would be too hot today," she responded, pulling herself up into a sitting position against the wall.

Looking up at her, Cameron noticed that her eyes drooping halfway closed and there was a thick sheet of sweat covering her face. Her breathing had become quick and heavy again and she looked about ready to collapse in exhaustion.

"Sweety, we're not at the beach, we were kidnapped, remember?" Cameron asked pulling herself up as well. "You were driving me home and another car ran us off the road," she tried to explain, hoping something in Thirteen's delusional brain would click.

Thirteen's head tilted to the side in confusion before she let out a roar of laughter. "Wow, you really are getting heat stroke. You're starting to sound loony!" She continued laughing wildly until she was overcome with a fit of coughing. "Eww, and I think I'm catching your flu," she said between coughs.

"Thirteen, I don't have the flu! Look around, does this look like the beach to you? No. We're locked in a hot room, being terrorized relentlessly by a crazy man looking to get even with House for supposedly killing his wife," Cameron said, losing her calmness.

Hearing Cameron's words, Thirteen lifted her head and let her eyes roam the empty room. She glanced from the dirt floor to the grungy walls and to the shut door. Cameron saw panic in her eyes as she ripped the syringe from her chest and ran to the door, banging on it loudly.

"Let me out! Let me out!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Despite her overwhelming dizziness, Cameron jumped to her feet and wrapped her arms around Thirteen's frail form. She held her tight enough for comfort until her movements began to slow and eventually halt all together.

"It's gonna be alright Thirteen, but you gotta relax okay. If you don't calm down you're gonna end up hurting yourself," Cameron soothed quietly to the frantic girl.

Just as she thought she had things under control, the door swung open and an angry looking Michael stepped into the room.

"What's all the damn commotion!?" he roared.

"The heat is making her delirious! She's just gonna keep acting like this until you turn the heat back down," she yelled, trying to sound stronger than she actually felt.

"Don't you tell me what to do girl, or I'll put you in your place!" he stepped menacingly toward her.

"I'm not afraid," she lied.

"Really?" he taunted stepping closer still.

There was a brief moment of nothing before Michael reached out and ripped Thirteen from Cameron's arms, throwing her to the ground. He then grabbed her shoulders and shoved her backwards until she was pinned between the dirty wall and his large body. He brought his face so close to hers that she could feel his hot breath on her cheek.

"You scared now?" he asked, his voice a low growl.

When she tried to answer, she realized she couldn't find her voice so she resorted to a timid nod. Upon seeing the hesitant motion, Michael leaned back a little bit and let out a chuckle.

"Good," he said before slamming a fist into her stomach causing her to curl into herself and fall to the floor. "Don't ever forget who's in charge here!" he boomed before leaving the room again.

Thirteen, who had come out of her stupor, crawled over to a whimpering Cameron.

"You okay?" she asked, then chastised herself for asking such a ridiculous question to a girl who was obviously in pain.

"I'll be fine," she said as she recomposed herself. She looked up at the window, back to the door, then at the window again. "We're getting out of here before he kills one of us," she stated as she rose to her feet.


	8. Chapter 8

Cameron sat, once again with Thirteen sprawled out beside her, going over different ideas of escape in her head. They could escape through the window, muscle their way out the door, somehow negotiate their release, or Cameron's person favorite – kill Michael and run. How many of these ideas were actually plausible though? In Cameron's mind, none. These thoughts dug the feelings of hopelessness deeper and deeper into her soul. The opening of the door ripped her from her thoughts and she snapped to attention. Beside her, Thirteen eased her tired and aching body up and glared at their tormentor.

"It's good to see that you're yourself again Dr. Hadley," Michael snickered when he saw this.

"Right," she spat, holding her trembling body to the wall in a futile attempt to look less vulnerable.

"Don't worry, you're safe this time. I came in to talk to Dr. Cameron."

Cameron's eyes grew wide as she searched his face for some sort of clue to what he had planned and what degree of suffering she would be forced to withstand.

"Dr. Cameron, do you still have your appendix?" he asked smiling.

"Yeah," she replied shakily.

"Good. You see, I just finished reading all about appendectomies online and I'm dying to try my hand at it. What do you say?!" he asked enthusiastically.

"I say that's extremely dangerous. Anything could go wrong. Plus, you're not a doctor so you have no idea how to handle a surgery," she argued.

"I told you, I read about it online. That practically makes me an expert on it. What do you think Dr. House? Am I an expert?" he asked, addressing House for the first time in hours.

"I think you're an idiot. I thought you didn't want to kill them?" House pointed out.

"I don't. Not yet at least."

"Then why in the hell would you even attempt a surgery?"

"C'mon Dr. House, give me at least a little credit," he whined.

"Michael, you're a fucking lunatic," Kutner spat.

"No, I'm just pissed off. Now I'd love to continue this debate but I've got some stuff I've got to get ready. I'll talk to you later," he said before shutting off the camera and leaving the room.

"Is he serious?" Thirteen asked, voicing the worry that they both were feeling.

"Honestly, I think he is," Cameron whispered.

Silence fell upon them as their minds soared with visions of Michael, slicing Cameron open and playing around with her insides while she slowly and painfully died. With those thoughts, Cameron began crying again. Thirteen wrapped an arm around her and pulled their bodies closer together.

"I'm gonna die aren't I?" Cameron wept.

"Shh, no, you're not gonna die. He's probably just bluffing to rile everybody up. Michael's crazy, but I don't think he's **that** crazy," Thirteen soothed.

"You think so?" Cameron sniffled.

"Yeah I do. You know, I had my appendix removed when I was twenty," she shared.

"Really? Appendicitus?"

"Yep. My appendix burst while I was in class one day and I had to be rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery," Thirteen explained.

"Sounds fun," Cameron chuckled, wiping her eyes.

"For sure. It was the best time of my life," she answered sarcastically.

Both girls were laughing together when Michael returned to the room with a backpack slung over his shoulder. He held the door open for Ralph, who pushed a shiny metal table inside. Cameron's eyes went glossy upon seeing the table as she realized that Michael really was **that** crazy and that he was actually going to go through this appendectomy. Thirteen sensing the older doctor's anxiety, pulled her closer to her own body.

"Well Dr. Cameron, are you ready for this? I sure am!" Michael stated excitedly. "Ralph is gonna apply the local anesthetic while I get back in touch with your friends."

Ralph approached Cameron with a needle in his hand and a sinister look on his face. As he pulled her up by her arm she began fighting and struggling against him. When he tried to pull her into a firmer hold, she fought even harder, so he swung behind her and wrapped an arm around her neck. Panicking, Cameron forced her head to the side and bit down as hard as she could on his forearm. Ralph yelled in pain and immediately released her. As soon as she was free, she scurried back over to the wall where Thirteen still sat. Enraged, Ralph stalked back over to Cameron and threw his fist solidly into her eye. This momentarily stunned her and allowed Ralph to inject her with the anesthetic. As the liquid began moving through her system Cameron felt weaker and weaker until she just collapsed to the floor. Smirking in triumph, Ralph scooped her up off the floor, carried her over to the metal table, and dropped her limp body roughly onto the table's top.

In the mean time, Michael had turned the camera back on and was taunting House quietly. When he heard the bang of Cameron's unconscious body hitting the hard surface of the table he abruptly stopped the taunts and turned away from the camera.

"Is she ready?" he asked his brother.

"As ready as she's gonna get," he answered.

"Excellent, here we go Dr. House," he smiled before moving behind the table and pulling a set of latex gloves on.

"You're really gonna go through with this Michael?" House asked incredulously.

"Of course I am! It's all set up now, I might as well do it. Don't worry, she won't even miss her appendix. And she'll most likely just sleep through the entire operation anyway."

"Most likely?" Thirteen questioned from the floor.

"Yeah, well, there's some possibility that she'll come to while I'm wrist deep in her," Michael confessed.

"And what the hell are you gonna do if she does?!" Thirteen demanded.

"**I'm** not going to do anything. **You're** going to hold her down so I can finish the operation. If she struggles and I knick something, it'll be your fault so I suggest you get over here and hold on tight. You know, just in case," he explained.

She pushed herself up from the floor and walked over to the table slowly. She stood at the head as she looked down at Cameron's still form.

"Let's begin," Michael said once Thirteen was in place.

He first lifted Cameron's limp upper body and pulled her shirt roughly up over her head. Once that was done, he smiled and ran his fingers over the bare flesh of her stomach. Keeping the smile on his face Michael picked up a black permanent marker and drew a little map on Cameron's abdomen. When he was finished with that he used alcohol to clean the area and then picked up a scalpel.

"Here we go," he said to Thirteen before plunging the blade into Cameron's flesh.

His hand moved with surprising precision and he showed no trace of hesitation. He worked quickly and soon tiny beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He sighed when he finally reached the organ he was vying for. Just as he freed her appendix and was getting ready to remove it from her body, Cameron began to stir. As she did, pain immediately shot through her entire body and she began to struggle as hard as she could. Thirteen instantly put her trembling hands on Cameron's shoulders and tried to push her down against the table. Cameron, disorientated and unsure of what was happening to her body, just struggled harder. Seeing this, Thirteen bent down and started whispering calming words to Cameron. Upon hearing her voice, Cameron calmed down slightly but her body still writhed in pain and now small yelps were escaping her mouth. Looking down, her eyes widened when she saw her bloody appendix in Michael's hand.

"Oh God," she cried out.

"Don't worry Dr. Cameron, now I just gotta close you up," Michael said to her calmly.

What started out as small grunts soon blossomed into yells and screams of pain as Michael repeatedly dug a needle through her flesh, pulling it back together. Thirteen was now positioned with one arm laying across Cameron's chest, holding her still, and her other arm lay along Cameron's side, her hand firmly clutched in the struggling girl's hand.

"You're gonna be okay Cameron, it's almost over," she encouraged.

Michael finally tied the last stitch, wiped the sweat from his brow, and stepped back to admire his work.

"See?" he said, holding up the now useless organ very nonchalantly. "I told you I'm an expert."

"You're past insane, you're fucking psychotic. This isn't even for revenge, it's for your sick pleasure," Thirteen ground out, teeth gritted.

Ignoring her outrage, Michael dropped a wad of gauze on Cameron's chest and then gathered the rest of his things.

"You can finish this up now," he smiled. "Talk to ya later Dr. House," he smirked, shutting off the video camera on his way out the door behind Ralph.

Once they were both gone, Thirteen stood, taking the pressure off of Cameron's body. When she tried to unclasp her hand, however, Cameron refused to let go.

"Cameron, hun, you have to let go of my hand so I can wrap your wound," she said gently.

Showing no indication that she had heard Thirteen, Cameron continued to keep her eyes closed and hand clenched. Knowing the wrapping needed to be done, Thirteen used her free hand to pry Cameron's off of her own. The instant they were separated, Cameron started to struggle again and her arms flailed about.

"Shh, shh," Thirteen soothed as she tried to grab Cameron's arms to kee p her from hurting herself.

Once she finally got the flailing to subside, Thirteen released her arms and brushed a few strands of hair from Cameron's face.

"Cameron," she spoke quietly, "you're gonna have to stand up so I can wrap this gauze around you properly."

Without answering, Cameron struggled to push herself up from the table. She only managed to get about half way up before pain shot through her new wound and she dropped back down with a thud.

"I can't," she whispered.

"Here, let me help you," Thirteen tucked her arms around Cameron's back and lifted her slowly into a sitting position. She then moved around to Cameron's front and, ignoring the pain in her own body, pulled Cameron to her feet. "You can keep your hands on the table for support," Thirteen instructed as she proceeded to wrap the gauze around Cameron's body with her trembling hands. When she was finished, she found Cameron's shirt on the floor and pulled it back over the older doctor's head.

"Okay, I'm done now. Here, put your arm over my shoulder, I'll help you back to the floor."

Cameron complied silently and together, they limped back over to their familiar spot against the grungy wall. Cameron whimpered at the nearly unbearable pain coursing through her body.

"You okay?" Thirteen asked, realizing how stupid the question was as soon as it left her lips.

"I just had one of my organs forcibly ripped from my body by a madman who got his knowledge by surfing Google. Do you really think I'm gonna be okay?" Cameron snapped.

"No. I'm sorry, I don't know why I even asked you that. I mean, obviously, you're not okay," Thirteen tried to apologize quickly.

"No," Cameron sighed, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that I'm hurting, I'm tired, and I'm almost completely out of hope."

"I know, I know, but we've gotta stay optimistic."

"How? How can we possibly stay optimistic now? Michael obviously will do anything to get at House and we're just expendable little pieces in his fucked up game."

"We'll get outta here soon," Thirteen said quietly.

"And how do you think that's every gonna happen? Huh? The only way we're leaving here is as cold corpses. I mean, look at you, you're trembling so hard you can barely stay on your own feet, you have broken ribs possibly causing internal damage, you've had one seizure already, and you can't even take a single deep breath. And me, I just had my appendix ripped out, my hand is almost certainly broken, and I can barely stand on my busted up leg. So explain to me, how are we ever gonna get outta here alive?"

Instead of giving a response, Thirteen walked over to the metal table, pushed it over to the corner under the single window, and climbed on top of it.

"Thirteen what are you - ?"

Cameron was cut off when Thirteen slammed her elbow into the glass with about as much force as she could muster. The window stayed solid so she repeated the action. Once again, the glass stayed intact. Determined, she banged against it again and again until her elbow finally went through the glass and the window shattered. She then proceeded to push the remaining pieces of glass out of the pane. When she was completely satisfied with her work, she jumped down and walked back over to Cameron.

"This is how we're getting out. C'mon," Thirteen knelt down to help Cameron up.

"W-w-what? You can't be serious?" Neither of us are in any shape to make a run for it."

"Look, you asked for a way out and I made it happen. Now if you would like to continue to live, you better get off your ass, on your feet, and out that damn window," she said harshly.

Feeling the desperation of her words, Cameron reached out and allowed Thirteen to help her to her feet.

"Once you're out, run for the woods, I'll be right behind you, okay?" Thirteen instructed her.

"Okay," she agreed as they climbed up on the table together.

Thirteen boosted Cameron up and slowly pushed her body out the window. Once she was entirely out, Thirteen jumped back down and went over to the video camera which was still set up in the corner of the room. She found the power button and flipped it on. As soon as she did, the screen on the television blinked to life and she saw House and the team.

"Hey, can you guys see and hear me?" she asked.

"Yeah we can, how is Cameron?" House asked immediately.

"Not good. Look, I can't stay and talk, I broke the window that is in here and I already pushed Cameron out. I need to get out too, but I wanted to tell you guys that we've escaped and that you need to come find us now before Michael realizes we're missing. It looks like woods outside so we're definitely out of the city. We were heading east when we were run off the road so maybe start with that. Please, please hurry." With that, she switched off the camera, picked it up off its tripod, and smashed it into the ground. Satisfied, she climbed back up on the table and followed Cameron out the window and into the woods.

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"So?" Kutner asked expectantly.

"So what?" House asked back.

"Are we gonna go out and find them?"

"We don't even know where to look you idiot," House spat.

"She said head east, we could just do that," Kutner argued.

"Yeah, and she's been locked up and tortured for quite some time. You really wanna trust her judgment with directions right now?"

Before Kutner could make another argument, Chase burst through the door holding a small packet of papers.

"I got the inheritance forms! Michael and Ralph inherited a cabin in the Triple Point Woods about 50 miles east of the city!"

"Let's go get em then," House charged out of the room and everyone else followed.

"Told you we should go east," Kutner muttered.

"Shut up Kutner," House yelled as they made their way to the parking garage.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wow, such a delay. But never fear, I am not abandoning this story! Work and school have been getting all of my attention lately. But I promise to work on this as much as possible now that school is winding down a bit. Remember to review though. Tell me what you like, tell me what you hate. Feel free to give me any ideas you may have for the story and I'll certainly take them into consideration for future chapters. Constructive criticism is always welcomed too! Thanks for your patience friends!


	9. Chapter 9

Cameron and Thirteen ran as fast as their worn down bodies would allow. Rocks and sticks dug into the flesh of their bare feet but they didn't dare slow their run. As the women wove their way around the trees and old stumps, they felt a stronger and stronger sense of freedom. Suddenly, Thirteen tripped on a rouge tree root and tumbled to the ground.

"Hey, get up, get up!" Cameron said frantically trying to gather up enough strength to hoist the girl back to her feet.

"Can't…can't breath…need to…rest…one minute," she gasped between pants of much needed oxygen.

Looking down at her from above, Cameron realized how terrible her tremors had gotten. It was a miracle that Thirteen was even able to stay on her feet for so long.

"We've been running for awhile now, I think we can rest just a few minutes," Cameron said, lowering herself to sit next to Thirteen. "You think he's looking for us yet?" she asked quietly.

"Who? Michael or…or House?"

"Michael."

"Probably not yet. He's probably just…kicking back and…and…and basking in the glow…of his latest torture," thirteen finished her statement as she erupted into a violent coughing fit.

All Cameron could think to do was rub her back gently.

"We should…keep moving," Thirteen stated after the coughing subsided.

"You need to rest a little longer," Cameron insisted with a hand on her shoulder.

"No, I'm not going to risk going back there just because I'm…a little weezy. I'm as good as I'm…as I'm…" she trailed off as her body began seizing again.

"Shit," Cameron breathed, jumping into action. She turned Thirteen on her side again and made her best attempt to hold her jerking body to the ground. "it's okay, it's okay," she whispered, knowing full well that Thirteen was not, in fact, okay.

Thankfully, the seizure only lasted about 30 seconds this time and when Cameron rolled her back onto her back, she found that Thirteen was already regaining consciousness.

"You gotta quit doing that," Cameron said quietly.

"Yeah, I'll try my best," Thirteen croaked.

"The sun's going down," Cameron acknowledged.

"We should get going. Once it's dark, we won't be able to see enough to run."

"Yeah, you're right," Cameron helped Thirteen back to her feet and threw Thirteen's arm over her shoulder to steady the trembling woman. Running together they continued their escape through the woods.

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Meanwhile, House, Cuddy, Foreman, Chase, Kutner, and Taub were speeding down a vacant road just out of the city in Kutner's van. Cuddy sat in the front passenger seat while House drove, his foot holding the accelerator firmly against the floor, and the other four were piled into the two backseats.

"Can't this thing go any faster!?" Chase yelled from the far back.

"Nope, this is as fast as Kutner's geek mobile goes," House hollered back, keeping his eyes forward.

"House, do you think they got away?" Cuddy asked, just loud enough for him to hear.

"I think it's unlikely that two women who have been through hell would be able to evade two grown men with a grudge," he answered honestly.

Upon hearing his answer, Cuddy's head dipped and tears formed in her eyes.

"However," he continued, "I think Cameron is too stubborn to go down without a fight and Thirteen's recent realization that she actually wants to live will keep her on her feet."

"Are we almost there?" Kutner interrupted anxiously.

"What are you five?" House mocked back.

"No, it's just that I'm worried. It's getting dark out which will make it even harder for us to find them," he reasoned.

"We'll get to them soon Kutner," Cuddy assured calmly.

"Take a left here!" Foreman suddenly shouted.

House whipped the van onto a dirt road surrounded on both sides by thick woods.

"Looks like we're on the right track," House muttered as he sped on.

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The two women were still fighting their way through the woods but their pace had slowed dramatically and they had to lean heavily on each other for support. Suddenly, Cameron's knees buckled beneath her and her body crumpled to the ground in a heap. After taking a few more steps, Thirteen followed suit, dropping to her own knees.

"I'm sorry," Cameron huffed out, "I can't go any further. My leg is on fire, my feet are numb, and it feels like my guts are falling out of my stomach. Not to mention it's gotten a lot colder since the sun went down," she said wrapping her arms around herself.

"We gotta keep moving," Thirteen encouraged, "or else we're gonna end up dying here."

"I can't."

Instead of giving another argument, Thirteen went silent.

"I'm sorr-," Cameron began to apologize again but was cut off by Thirteen's shushing.

"Listen," she said quietly.

Cameron complied and let silence fall between them. At first, she couldn't hear anything except for her own harsh breathing. But then, she heard what she was supposed to be listening for. It was a quiet but distinct sound of an engine growing closer and closer. Thirteen quickly struggled to her feet and helped Cameron do the same. Together, they stumbled towards the noise, emerging from the woods onto a dark dirt road. Thirteen sighed in relief when she saw two headlights approaching. She allowed herself to once again drop to her knees, bringing Cameron down to the ground beside her. As the vehicle pulled to a stop in front of the two women, the driver and passenger jumped out and approached them. Thirteen's stomach dropped into her feet when she realized it was Michael and Ralph strutting towards them. She quickly looked over to Cameron and saw that the girl was frozen in panic and fear.

"Did you really think you could run away from me?" Michael asked laughing.

"Stay the fuck away from us," Thirteen ground out through gritted teeth.

Michael ignored her warning and turned his attention to the catatonic Cameron.

"You don't look very excited to see us Dr. Cameron," he said smirking.

"You leave her alone," thirteen demanded as she drug herself to her aching feet for what felt like the millionth time and put her body between Michael and Cameron.

"What are you going to do?" he asked, looking her up and down. "Look at you, you can barely stand up. Now, why don't you both just get in the car and nobody will have to die."

"Go to hell," she spat.

Michael immediately pulled his gun from behind his back and pointed it at her.

"I'm really not joking around here girl. Get in the car."

"Okay, okay," she agreed with her hands up. She took a few steps and then threw her broken body into Michael, catching him off guard and sending him stumbling backwards into Ralph. Together, the three of them fell to the ground in a tangled pile of bodies. "Run Cameron! Run! Go!" she yelled.

Her desperate voice pulled Cameron from her trance and after hesitating for a split second, she got up and ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction. Michael, now enraged, slammed the butt of his gun into Thirteen's head and threw her aside as he stood up. Tired of playing around, he took aim at Cameron and fired. Cameron heard the shot and in the same instant she felt the hot bullet tear through her thigh. The impact sent waves of new pain and nausea through her body and she fell face first into the dirt.

"Go get her," Michael ordered angrily.

Ralph hopped up immediately and went to retrieve Cameron. Michael, now consumed in rage, turned his focus on Thirteen who was trying valiantly to stand. He drove his foot into the side of her head, thwarting her efforts and sending her crashing back to the ground.

"Stupid bitch, do you have a death wish or something?" he growled.

"I figured, I'm gonna die either way. So I'd rather go down fighting like a hero rather than hiding like a coward," she spat back, holding her throbbing head.

This only made Michael angrier so he drove his foot hard into her abdomen and she curled inward, gasping for breath. Ralph returned, dragging a screaming Cameron with him. He dropped her unceremoniously on the ground next to the writhing Thirteen.

"What now?" he asked his brother.

"Get them in the car," Michael replied.

Just as Ralph lifted Cameron to drag her to the backseat, a set of headlights appeared coming towards them.

"What the fuck?" Michael whispered.

The lights got closer and closer until it was only about 20 feet from where they stood. As the vehicle came to a stop, the doors opened and its occupants emerged. Michael's frown quickly curled into a smile once he learned who it was.

"Dr. House, so great to see you again!" he exclaimed.

"Hello Michel, just came to pick up my doctors and bring them home," he replied.

"You know, that's very thoughtful of you, but I don't think they're quite ready to go home yet."

"Yeah, I'm sure they are though. So why don't you just hand them over and we'll be on our merry way," House said, the rest of the group joining him in front of the van.

"What are you going to give me in return?" Michael asked, still smiling.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Oh, you know what I want. I want you Dr. House," he answered quickly.

"Umm…how about no," house replied cooly.

"Ralph, bring Dr. Cameron back around here," Michael instructed. Ralph complied, dragging the struggling girl back around in front of his brother. Michael then preceded to put his foot down on Cameron's bloody bullet wound and press down hard, causing her to cry out sharply.

"Okay, you win. We'll do it like this: Taub and Foreman will come get our girls and then I'll take their place."

"No way! You'll just play me. I'll give you Dr. Cameron, you come over here, and then I'll release Dr. Hadley," Michael stated.

"Fine. Foreman, go get Cameron."

Wordlessly, Foreman walked cautiously to where Cameron lay, scooped her up gently in his arms, and carried her back to the van. He immediately laid her in one of the back seats and climbed in beside her with Chase following closely behind.

"Now you come here," Michael demanded.

"No. Let Thirteen go first," House stood his ground.

"We had a deal!" Michael yelled furiously.

"Yeah, but when have I ever kept a deal in my life?" House asked sarcastically.

More angry than ever, Michael turned to Thirteen, who was still curled around herself, and shoved her onto her back. He then pointed his gun at her head and pulled the trigger. She shrieked as the bullet embedded itself into the dirt merely centimeters from her temple.

"Get the fuck over here," Michael demanded again.

"I'm not going anywhere until you let her go," House answered.

Michael bent down and forced Thirteen to her feet. Holding her in front of himself, facing House and the others, he out the barrel of the gun against the side of her head.

"Come over here, or she's dead," he warned.

"You're not gonna kill her Michael," House insisted.

"Oh no? Watch me," Michael cocked his gun and a shot reverberated in the dark abandoned area. Thirteen's body dropped to the ground and Michael stared at the group wide-eyed. He then looked down at Thirteen who was clutching at her newly bleeding shoulder. "What the hell was that?" he asked astounded.

"Back the fuck away from her," Kutner yelled, emerging from the darkness beside the van.

"Kutner? You shot her?" Cuddy asked incredulously.

"I was aiming for his head," he admitted.

"How the hell was that anywhere near his head?" House asked.

Well, it…whatever. In any case, I've got a gun, so you're gonna let her go or I'm gonna shoot you for real," Kutner answered bravely.

"Kid, you couldn't kill a fly," Michael challenged as he raised his gun in the direction of House, Cuddy, and Taub. But before he could take any action, Kutner shot bullet after bullet at his body until Michael fell to the ground next to Thirteen. Dumbfounded, Ralph climbed into the car, started it up, and sped off back down the way he had come.

Once the threat seemed to be gone, Kutner, House, Taub, and Cuddy raced to where Thirteen lay. Cuddy knelt down beside Michael and out two fingers on his neck.

"He's dead," she announced.

"Wow Kutner, would've never pegged you as the killin' type. I figured it was gonna be Homie who would be packin'. Way to go," House congratulated. Kutner said nothing. Instead, he occupied himself with checking over Thirteen.

"Hey, you're gonna be alright," he soothed as she fought to breath against the pain she was feeling all over.

"You shot me!" she proclaimed.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I saved your life though," he said smiling.

"Yeah you did. Thanks Kutner," he said smiling back.

"I hate to break up this very Kodak moment, but we got one bleeding girl in the van and one very messed up lesbian who also needs some real medical treatment," House interrupted.

"Right," Kutner said as he lifted Thirteen up and brought her to the van.

Once they were all back in, House turned the van around and headed back to the main road they had come from.

"We gotta hurry House! We can't stop Cameron's bleeding and we can't keep her conscious," Chase yelled from the back.

"And Thirteen is starting to have an asthma attack!" Taub shouted.

"We'll be there soon," House promised. _'We have to be there soon,' he thought, 'I can't let them die. This is all my fault.'_


	10. Chapter 10

Hosue was thankful for the vacant road as he barreled Kutner's ridiculous van through the dark. He had to use all of the will-power he could muster to keep his eyes on the road and ignore the screaming coming from behind him. The screaming was being produced by Cameron who was laying in the far back seat of the van with Foreman holding her head in his lap and Chase kneeling between her and the seat in front of them.

"I need a new cloth, this one's soaked through," he announced to the van's other passengers.

"There should be a beach towel on the floor there somewhere," Kutner answered from in front of him.

Chase felt around the floor until his hand came in contact with the soft fabric. In one swift motion he took the blood soaked t-shirt he had been holding against Cameron's leg and replaced it with the dry beach towel. As he pushed it firm against her wound, she strained against him and her screaming intensified.

"It's okay Cameron, you're gonna be okay. Shh, we'll be at the hospital real soon. I promise," Foreman tried to comfort her, stroking her hair gently.

In the next seat forward, Thirteen was frighteningly quiet. They only noise she was making was her quick, short gasps of air as she tried to maintain control of her breathing and the pain radiating throughout every inch of her body.

"You still doing alright Thirteen?" Kutner asked as he held his own t-shirt against the bloody bullet hole he was responsible for.

With her teeth clenched and her eyes wide, she responded with a quick nod and a quiet grunt of pain.

"House," Cuddy said quietly, "if we don't get them attention soon they're not gonna make it. Thirteen's obviously already in shock and it sounds like she's on the verge of an asthma attack." Cuddy glanced at her sympathetically before turning back to House. "And Cameron's back there losing blood by the bucketfuls."

"Well cuddy, believe me, if I could just blink us there I would. But unfortunately, I'm neither a genie nor a magician. So it looks like we'll just have to get there the old fashioned way," he snapped. "It'll only be about ten more minutes longer anyway."

Those ten minutes were the longest ten minutes in the history of the world. By the time the screeched to a stop in the emergency bay, both women had succumbed to their injuries and fallen unconscious.

"Kutner, Taub, go grab gurneys," House ordered before the van's engine was even turned off.

The two doctor's complied wordlessly. As soon as they were out of the van, Cuddy took their spot by Thirteen's side. Kutner and Taub soon returned with gurneys as well as a couple of doctors from the emergency room. Together, they lifted Thirteen's limp body from the van and onto the first gurney. Kutner then grabbed one of the doctor's arms and they rushed her off into the hospital.

Cameron was the next to go. Once she was out, she was whisked away in the same fashion Thirteen had been. After they were all gone, Cuddy glanced into the back of the van. There was so much blood. Soaked into the seats, pooled on the floor, even some smeared across the windows. _How could anyone still be alive after losing __**that**__ much blood?_ Cuddy was shaken from her thoughts by the sound of House's door slamming shut. He limped around the front of the van and over to Cuddy's side.

"Wow," he whispered at the sight.

"Yeah," she agreed.

"C'mon, let's go make sure they're not screwing anything up in there," he said, turning towards the door.

Sighing, she took one last look at the inside of the van before slamming the doors shut and following closely behind House.

Inside, the two followed the commotion down to one of the large emergency rooms. Expecting to see their two female employees, House and Cuddy were surprised to find the room empty.

"Where are doctors Hadley and Cameron?" House asked one of the bustling nurses passing by.

"They were both taken directly to surgery. If I were you, I'd wait about an hour before checking in. It's a pretty ugly sight," she said before scurrying off in the opposite direction.

They nodded to the now gone nurse and went over to Cuddy's office. Neither spoke as they sat in the office, staring at the floor, the walls, anything but each other. Because when they looked into each other's eyes, they could see the fear and panic so clearly felt by their emotions. The hour ticked by slowly. Neither spoke a single word until House stood from his seat.

"Well, it's been exactly an hour. I'm going to check on them."

"I'm coming with you," Cuddy declared.

They took the elevator up to the operating rooms and climbed the stairs briskly to the observation decks.

"How is she?" House asked over the intercom.

"She's lost a lot of blood. I got the bullet out of her leg and repaired the damage done to her muscles there. I also pulled out the crude stitches in her abdomen and fixed her up in that area. Now I'm taking her down to x-ray," Chase explained.

"Where's Thirteen?" House asked.

"Next room over. She's not doing so great House," he replied solemnly.

House sped back down to the hallway and burst through the doors of the OR next door.

"Dr. House! What the hell!?" the operating doctor exclaimed.

"She's one of my fellows. What's her status?" he explained and asked quickly.

"Well the bullet in her shoulder was easy to remove and repair. The damage done to her abdomen, however, is much more severe. Something slammed into her stomach, breaking multiple ribs. One of the broken ribs then pushed up into her lung, causing it to collapse. Now before you tell me that's easy to fix, you need to know that it collapsed twice. From the damage, I can see that her lung was partially re-inflated after the first collapse but the rib was still jammed up against it, so it collapsed a second time."

"So? Fix it!" House demanded.

"It's not like I can just slap some glue on her and she'll be just like new. I know you know it's complicated. If things aren't done perfectly she may never breathe on her own again."

"And if you just stand there and don't do anything at all she definitely won't breathe on her own again, not to mention she'll probably be dead. So, like I said before, FIX IT!" House shouted the command.

His booming voice startled the assisting nurses and the operating doctor turned back to thirteen's unconscious body. As they went back to work, House just stood there watching helplessly until a warm hand grasped his shoulder. He turned his head slightly to see Cuddy standing beside him.

"We need to let them work House. Why don't you come back to my office with me and we can talk about things," she suggested, gently leading him to the door.

Much to her surprise, House allowed her to pull him out of the OR and down to her office. Once they were in the office, Cuddy shut the door and sat herself back in her chair directly across from House. Oblivious to her presence, his eyes went back to staring blankly at the walls.

"They're gonna be okay House. They're gonna pull through," Cuddy assured him.

"You don't know that," he said, his eyes finally snapping up to meet hers.

"Yes I do. They're both fighter, and you know that. Cameron is one of the most stubborn doctor's I've ever worked with and who could ever forget Thirteen's infamous hostage incident."

"Neither Thirteen's stupidity nor Cameron's stubbornness make either of them death proof! And even if they both pull through and aren't permanently disabled, who knows how they'll be mentally. And it'd all because of me!"

"You gotta quit blaming yourself for this House," she said quietly.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because it isn't your fault!" she exclaimed.

"Yes it is Cuddy! Stop babying me for three seconds and treat me like the arrogant ass I am! Maybe if I showed people a little more respect-"

"Yes, you're an asshole! Everybody knows this! But that guy, he was upset about his wife's death and we both know that if her life could have been saved it would have. Regardless of his reasoning, what he did to Cameron and Thirteen is inexcusable. And for that, Michael got what he deserved."

"No he didn't. His death was quick and relatively painless. He deserved a much slower and much more painful death. If it were up to me, I would have hung him upside-down, cut off his fingers, and let him bleed to death while Cameron and Thirteen beat him with bats," House stated seriously.

"Ah, there's the House we all know and…" she trailed off with a smile.

"Oh you love me, don't even pretend you don't."

"Believe me House, I'm not pretending."

The sudden presence of Kutner interrupted any witty comeback House was planning to make.

"Hey, just wanted to let you guys know Cameron's out of x-ray and awake," he announced before turning to leave.

"Where?" House asked.

"Oh sorry, room 378," he threw back over his shoulder.

"Damn, you would think that this was his first day as a doctor," House said as he rose to his feet.

Cuddy just shook her head and followed him out of the office. Together, they made their way toward Cameron's room. When they got there, they were both surprised to see Cameron sitting up and talking with Chase.

"Hey!" she smiled when she saw House and Cuddy enter the room.

"Hey Cameron! How are you feeling?" Cuddy asked moving to her side.

"Well, not great, but a lot better than before."

"I'm sure that wouldn't take a lot considering your past 48 hours," Chase muttered, adjusting her IV.

"You're lucky," House stated bluntly.

"I know," she whispered.

"I mean you should have died more than once, and-"

"House, I get! I know I should be dead! I know I'm lucky to be lying here in this hospital bed right now. I really don't need to be reminded that I'm fortunate to have lived through my torture!" she shouted, suddenly enraged.

"Cameron, sweety, calm down," Cuddy said placing a calming hand on her shoulder. "House, maybe we should step out and let Cameron get some rest. I'm sure she could use some."

Before House could argue, Cuddy had him pushed out the door and into the hall.

"What the hell is wrong with you!? She just spent two days at the mercy of a psychopath being tortured and the first thing you think to say to her is that she's lucky!? Seriously House, I knew you were mean but I didn't think you were heartless."

"I'm not," he defended.

"Then what was that in there?"

"You think coddling her is gonna magically make her better faster?"

"No, but you could at least show a little compassion," she argued.

"I didn't know what else to say. What do you want me to do – tell her I'm sorry she was tortured because some guy was mad at me? Sorry she was forced to electrocute and beat one of her friends and coworkers? What exactly should I say to her because I'll go back in right now," he said desperately.

"No! She needs to be left alone for awhile. Maybe you should go take a walk to clear your head. Here," she said rummaging through her pocket before producing a $20 bill. "go grab yourself a cup of coffee or something."

He snatched the money from her hand and limped down the hallway. After purchasing a coffee from the cafeteria, House made his way back upstairs and into Wilson's office. He took one look at the empty office chair before flipping himself onto the couch.

"Why do you have to be on vacation at such an inconvenient time for me Wilson? How do you expect me to come to any earth shattering realizations without your moronic banter?" he asked into the empty office.

He fidgeted a bit until he had his body worked into a horizontal position with his coffee resting on his stomach. Once he was adequately comfortable, he closed his eyes and despite all the things racing through his mind, he drifted into a restless slumber.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

House awoke to his name being continuously called by a familiar voice. He reluctantly opened his eyes to see Cuddy standing before him, arms crossed over her chest. Blinking the sleep from his eyes, House sat up and looked at her.

"How long have I been out?" he asked groggily.

"About ten hours," she sighed.

"Seriously? Wow. Has there been any change in Thirteen's condition?"

"That's what I came to tell you House. She's out of surgery finally and is in the room next to Cameron's. She's not awake yet but I thought you might want to go see her," she said before leaving him alone again.

He took a moment to recompose himself after his ridiculously long nap before he got to his feet and limped down to Thirteen's room. When he entered, he immediately closed the door behind himself. She looked so fragile, lying there hooked up to a breathing apparatus and covered in bruises. Venturing in further, House pulled up a chair to her bedside and sat down, pulling her small hand into his.

"I'm sorry Thirteen," he said quietly. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you and Cameron. I'm sorry that Michael used you two to get back at me. I'm sorry you're lying here in this bed unconscious and unable to breathe on your own. And I'm sorry that your life may have been ruined because of me. I saying this all to you while you're asleep because I don't really know how to say it when you're awake. I kind of snapped on Cameron and I actually feel awful about it. I'm not really a heartless bastard, I just don't know how to convey my emotions to people very well. The truth is, you and Cameron are the best doctors I've ever worked with and I'd be completely devastated if either of you were gone. So please, just be okay, alright? I promise I'll take it easier on you. Maybe even stop the lesbian jokes, at least for a little while." Just wake up Thirteen." He whispered his last statement before going silent. Keeping his hand firmly gripping hers, he was totally content with watching her sleep.

Outside the room, Cuddy had the side of her head against the door and a small smile spread across her face.

'_He really does care_,' she thought happily, leaving House alone with Thirteen.

****************************************************************************************************************

Yo, sorry for waiting so long to update. I lost my notebook in the spring and I actually found it today. So I can finally finish this story!

I'd love some feedback on this. It would really help me update faster. So, lemme know what you think. Does this chapter flow with the rest of the story? What should come next? Obviously I have a plan written out but I always love advice and suggestions from my fellow writers.

Thanks again for being so patient with my lame ass self!


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